Dems miss memo on Year of the Woman
No female candidates for gov, lt. gov
In the Year of the Woman, there’s a glaring gap in Massachusetts: Right at the top of the ticket.
Bay State Democrats failed to produce a single female candidate in the races for governor and lieutenant governor — only white males.
That omission is especially notable because the eventual Democratic gubernatorial ticket will be running the same year that U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is running for re-election and making a getout-the-vote push that could aid the party’s effort to win back the Corner Office.
It would have been a perfect fit for a woman to share the stage with Warren, but instead it will be Jay Gonzalez or Bob Massie, neither of whom right now looks capable of knocking off Gov. Charlie Baker.
Democrats this year couldn’t even find a female candidate to run for second fiddle. Even Republicans managed to do that four years ago when Karyn Polito won the lieutenant governor’s office with Baker on the ticket.
Why couldn’t Democrats recruit a female for the top statewide office in a year when the #MeToo movement is still going strong and female candidates are making a splash all over the country?
Part of the blame lies with Attorney General Maura Healey, who took a pass on the gubernatorial race even though she would have been highly competitive with Baker.
Healey these days seems more interested in boosting her national profile by suing President Trump dozens of times. Or maybe she’s waiting to slide into the U.S. Senate if Sen. Edward Markey retires or Warren makes a successful White House run in 2020. Healey could also be a prime candidate for U.S. attorney general or some other top federal post if a Democrat wins the White House in two years.
Auditor Suzanne Bump also passed on the gubernatorial race, choosing to run for re-election.
But even without Healey or Bump in the field, Democrats should have been able to find someone to run for governor, even a first-time candidate without any elective office experience. Why couldn’t Democrats have recruited their own Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to run against Baker?
The lack of a female candidate for governor looks even more glaring considering that five capable women are running for Congress in the 3rd District, and another woman, Ayanna Pressley, is challenging U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano in the 7th District.
Pressley is taking full advantage of her gender in her bid to dump Capuano. The contrast of a young black woman taking on an old white male is the most compelling contest in the Sept. 4 primary, and it’s why Capuano is in a tough fight.
Baker should be thanking his lucky political stars he didn’t draw a female opponent. And Democrats should be asking themselves why, in a state that’s filled with Democratic voters and lawmakers, they couldn’t find a woman in the Year of the Woman.